When it came time in 2010 for Jewelie Randall to expand and move her 4-year-old store, Flora, on Southwest Alder, she faced a tough choice.

There were a number of solid neighborhoods where her collection of jewelry, candles and girly accoutrements would be coveted: Sellwood, say, or maybe Lake Oswego.

Or she could stay in the West End, a scattered assortment of shops and restaurants south of Burnside striving to become the metro area's newest shopping destination. With a loose boundary stretching from Burnside to Southwest Alder and Ninth Avenue up to 13th, the area was gritty.

Better known for flophouses, medical buildings and long-empty storefronts, it was, and sometimes still is, gritty with urine-scented walls, transients in doorways and upturned planters.

Yet Randall stayed because, much like a growing number of other shopkeepers, restaurateurs and businesses, she was drawn to the West End's more affordable rents, its mix of classic Portland architecture with new construction, and ultimately the feeling of pride in the burgeoning neighborhood.

Those were among the traits that resonated with some of the city's best-known developers, who say they worked collaboratively, and more closely than they ever had before, to handpick tenants and revitalize old buildings while working to keep the dozen or so blocks' sensibilities.

"The West End is a 'hood, and we want to keep it a 'hood," said Greg Goodman, a Portland developer who owns a number of the buildings, old and new, that are considered West End landmarks. "It's Division, it's Clinton. There's a vibe about it, and we want to keep that."

Today, with several major renovations near completion, the district continues to attract independent entrepreneurs opening first shops or gambling on a second. And the West End, still far from a familiar name in shoppers' minds, is wooing retailers from other, more well-known shopping destinations including North Mississippi Avenue, Northwest 23rd Avenue and the Pearl District, and from Southwest Broadway.

Birth of a destination Goodman recalls partnering with bookseller Michael Powell a decade ago to press for new zoning laws in a funky little part of town south of Burnside. No one thought much about a name, he said, and ultimately, West End was simply something to slap atop an architectural report at the time.

Friend and fellow developer Richard Singer, a key architect of the Northwest 23rd Avenue area, said some were puzzled by Goodman's obsession.

"A lot of people didn't understand why he'd put effort into that area," said Singer, whose family has owned housing and office space there since the 1950s. "But it was the link between the Pearl and the central city. It was knitting together a very difficult connection."

Condominiums sprouted in the Pearl District, and work on the Brewery Blocks came together. So did Goodman, Singer and other longtime landlords including the Nathan and Menashe families and Tom Cody, a principal with developer Gerding Edlen.

"Most developers move forward with their own vision, it's their property and they get pretty possessive of what they want to do," said Singer, who owns the Mekka, where two ground-floor retail spaces eventually will emerge from beneath the new arts institute headquarters. "Twenty-Third will always be my baby, but the West End is new and exciting. It's really kind of revitalized my juices."

In late 2006, the Ace Hotel opened and was followed by the foodie attractions Kenny & Zuke's and Clyde Common, creating an anchor for the West End. Around the same time, retailer Craig Olson and his business partner, Sean Igo, began searching for a spot to settle their home goods concept, dubbed Canoe.

"We were looking for something with a different vibe," said Olson, who'd researched the Pearl but felt the pricing and its shiny-new aesthetic didn't fit with his business model. "I've lived in bigger cities than Portland where things bump up against each other a little bit, and I like that."

Indeed, Goodman's blue-hued 12west building, where Portlandia creator Fred Armisen just moved in, sits across from the aged awnings of a convenience store and a city-owned apartment complex. Across the street, Goodman is spending about $6 million to revamp Cox's Cleaners to make room for Beast or another restaurant.

Developer Nathan has transformed the building at 12th Avenue and Washington Street, where a series of nightclubs have opened and closed, into another window-wrapped space for Cheryl's on 12th, an Italian deli and cafe with food merchandising a lá Dean and Deluca, said Caryl Brown, associate vice president in retail brokerage for NAI Norris Beggs & Simpson. A popular local treats vendor is expected to open its second location next door. At the other end of the block sits the empty former space of the Central City Concern's outreach center.

There's grit, and then there are big-name national retailers, a rarity the district member's are proud of. (Fluevog Shoes and American Apparel are nationals, yet West Enders contend they have a more independent feel.) Goodman said he received a lease proposal for a West End location from a fast-food chain. He didn't even respond.

Still, retailers and landlords welcome the City Target coming to the district's southern edge at The Galleria. And in a nod to the burst of retail, even the out-of-state owners of The Governor Hotel have wooed local retailers, such as the creators of last year's pop-up Boy's Fort, to take over new spaces envisioned along Alder Street.

A shared vision The landlords say they talk often, compare notes and brainstorm on certain spaces. Take developer Cody, who was contacted by the owners of Chrome, a messenger bag producer out of Eugene, about their desire to locate in his Blackbox Building, a nearly year-old retail building with five storefronts. But Cody wasn't sure the retailer was the best fit.

He called up Singer, who had a spot near the Mekka building on 10th Avenue. Chrome will move in later this year, and the current tenant, Echo Audio, will take its home stereo equipment, new and retro, to a new space next to another West End pioneer, retailer Frances May, on Southwest Washington Street.

Concerned about controlling the level of grit, the developers and other businesses created their own mini "tax" district in which they all pool funds to hire regular cleaning and security patrols.

Jordan Menashe, 24, just joined his family's development firm and saw the opportunity in the West End and within his Portland Medical Center building.

View full sizeMotoya Nakamura/The OregonianDesigner Dayna Pinkham, owner of Pinkham Millinery, has handcrafted hats for 30 years. She moved to the West End in January from her longtime location at Morgan's Alley. She and other newcomers to the area are surprised by the number of tourists they see. Some say around 30 percent of their sales are thanks to out-of-towners staying at nearby hotels.

Across from one of the city's booming food cart pods, Menashe's first-level restaurants struggled. The lobby looked tattered. So he pushed for change. After adding new awnings, changing the name to the 511 Building and launching a lobby remodel in January, he successfully wooed Parallel, an apparel boutique, from the Pearl District and Pinkham Millinery, a longtime Portland hatter, from Morgan's Alley of Southwest Broadway.

"We're not just a medical building anymore. We love those tenants, but there's also a need for office users," Menashe said. "We have a floor with high ceilings; that would be great for a tech company that's expanding."

The cooperative feel among developers has trickled down to their tenants.

Gina Morris and her business partner, Celeste Sipes, were early believers in the West End. They launched Radish Underground about three years ago, about the same time a few other independent designers moved in. Some of the others have since closed, yet the pair have worked to support those who are left.

Morris and Patrick Leonard, the spokesman for the arts institute, have tramped throughout the West End in a driving rain, pitching a new business association to their fellow entrepreneurs. They've appealed to the city for some money in hopes of creating signage and cedar-potted evergreens to lead a clear path through the West End.

"These landlords have laid such fertile ground for the arts and artisans," said Morris, pointing up to many of the still-empty spaces above many of the retail spaces. "This isn't a neighborhood. Not many people live here, so we're creating a neighborhood."